Still Free
by lembas7
Summary: Welcome to the Black. Stargate SG1, Firefly crossover.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **Stargate: SG-1 characters and premise are not mine. Firefly characters and premise are property of Joss Whedon. I aim to misbehave. But not get sued.

**A/N:** In Stargate, I'm setting this season 3-ish, because that's what I have the DVD's up to and I also find it happily before when things start to break down pre-Season Sux, as well as when a lot of interesting team-dynamic stuff preluding to that actually takes place. In Firefly, we're post "Objects in Space" but Pre-Serenity. Joss is far too good at killing characters off. I've been trying to work my way around that, but _damn_.

**Summary:** Welcome to the Black. Still flying, and it's enough.

* * *

STILL FREE

_Fwhoosh!_

"Get down! Go!" Jack lunged, managing to tackle Daniel out of the way. Staff blasts seared the air overhead. _I do not _believe _this._ He spat out a mouthful of dirt. "Carter! Dial out!"

Blonde hair raced toward the DHD, dodging the Jaffa's fire across the clearing. _Zig, zag, zag again – good, she's clear._ And hiding behind the DHD, a definite no-firing zone for both sides. But the area around the 'gate itself. . . no such luck. After all, the ring was made of naquada. No zat blast was going to affect it. Unlike the irreplaceable, and too-vulnerable crystals housed in the DHD. _No way do they want to be stuck here. No way do I want to be stuck here with 'em._ "Carter!"

"Need a clear shot, sir!" Just enough bite in her voice to tell him that it was all okay, right now. She couldn't get out from cover to dial, but they'd help her with that, soon as.

Sheltered near the platform supporting the Stargate, Teal'c doggedly returned fire. Daniel had long since squirmed out from under him, belly-crawling towards the rest of the team.

Jack counted four. "Dammit, where is he!"

"Might have gotten cut off," his archaeologist offered, trading hot lead for the bolts of energy flying their way.

"It is possible the Tok'ra Aldwin is behind the line of Jaffa." There was irritation in Teal'c's impassive face. You just had to know where to look.

"Like he'd use the advantage," Jack muttered. _Damn snakes are all the same._

"I would, were I there," came an unexpected voice.

"Yeow!" The colonel took a deep breath, squeezing off a shot that took out one armored opponent before loosing his ire on the Tok'ra spy seated calmly next to him. "Where the hell were you?"

"I was separated," Aldwin replied calmly. The electrical, indescribable noise of a zat powered up between them. "I managed to slip past the Jaffa and circled farther around than I intended. I came upon the fight from behind the Chappa'ai." He fired. Missed.

_Useful as ever._ "Carter!"

"I could use some -"

Twin blasts from P-90 and staff weapon took out two more Jaffa.

"On it, sir!"

"Hurry, Sam!"

Jack looked to see what had his normally chipper archaeologist so panicked; and realized that it was a sound, not a sight. _Not yet. Shielded by the trees - _Coming from above.

"Gliders," Teal'c confirmed grimly.

"IDC sent!"

_Bless Carter. _"Major! Go!"

The slender form was the first to hit the event horizon, followed by Danny and Teal'c. Jack raced towards shimmering blue. His team was through, and he could really care less for the damn snake that had gotten them all into this in the first place. _Aldwin's on his own._

Last, the Tok'ra hurled himself after SG-1.

Unnoticed, a small metal box clamped to the outer ring of the Stargate flashed, red and green.

* * *

The suns were shining, the grass was brown, and they were up to it in crime. _At least today it's just a drop._

"Horowitz."

"Reynolds."

_Oh, yeah. This is gonna go great._ But her shotgun was loaded and only a holster away.

The captain waved a finger at the large, metallic ring with the strange symbols on it that marked their meet. "Nice monument."

"Landmark." Horowitz was a small man, almost as round as he was tall, concealing his sharp, conniving ways beneath jowls and blond stubble. He sounded like a wet pig when he grunted. "Kids like to dress up and pretend it's a fairy ring."

And do some other things too, if she was any judge. Zoë spared an eye for some … interesting graffiti. The other was firmly occupied by Horowitz's flunkies. _Too many men for just a pickup._

She caught the captain's eyes for a moment; saw that he already knew. He might be many things, but not much got by him when it came to a fight. _Despite some of his plans._

"Quite a few fellas you brought with ya for a simple drop."

Horowitz's eyes narrowed. "Heard Bolles had a hard time of it, last time he met up with you."

She recognized the line of tension in the captain's shoulders from when ordinance was dropping. Fingers inched toward her holster, slow'n steady. "Third party," she interjected. _Niska._ He'd killed their contacts, and grabbed her husband and the captain. _Looks like that trouble didn't end on the Skyplex. _Somehow the old bastard had managed to slink away. "Hasn't happened since."

Sweating from two suns, the middle man spoke too loudly. "An' we're gonna make sure it don't happen again."

_Code phrase._ Her shotgun was out and sighted; captain's pistol squared on Horowitz's gut. But at least thirty guns sprang up from all around, mounting the platform in front of the ring, popping up from the grass on every side. _Surrounded._

As ever, the Captain tried to keep their skins from gathering any more holes. "Horowitz. It doesn't have to go down like this."

The man in question eyed them. "You been a solid carrier since I known ya, Reynolds. So's I'm not wantin' to do nothin' to damage a workin' business relationship. Just takin' my care, is all."

"I see that," the captain muttered.

"Not lookin' good, sir." Zoë turned, glancing around the circle, putting her back against the captain's.

"When is it ever?"

Which would be when the huge ring started to spin.

_Clunk._

"What the -" Horowitz stared at them. Zoë kept her eyes on the men; a few of the young ones looked around in fear as the ground shook, ever so slightly, underfoot. _It's the more experienced ones, who can assess their surroundings and not take their sights off us, that gotta be taken out first._ She had her targets picked.

_Clunk._

"Hey, don't look at us!" The captain gave a small laugh. She couldn't see his face, but the grimness in the humor was something she'd heard through a hundred battles. "Hell, this here's _your_ planet. We just landed on it." If she hadn't been waiting for bullets to fly, she'd never have heard it. "Won't be makin' that mistake again."

_Clunk. Whirrr. _

It was glowing. _Tsao duh. _"Sir?"

His voice reached her ears, and went no further. "Anything happens, hit the ground."

Zoe's mind was on the next weapon she could reach. "Don't need to tell me twice."

_Clunk._

Horowitz's eyes were widening. "Grab them crates." He was met with blank stares; Zoë felt the captain swallow a small laugh. "I said grab 'em!" The middle man was sweating unpleasantly. "Reynolds. Pleasure doin' business with ya."

_Clunk._

"And the payment?"

Tension ratcheted the men around them. Fingers tensed on triggers. Zoe hoped the captain's question hadn't been their death warrant. But they'd done the damn job.

"Here!"

Metal chimed sweetly, distinct through the sounds of men moving, dropping their wariness and formation to move toward the goods. Not fast enough, apparently. Horowitz's face was red from shouting. "Let's get the _niou-se_ crates. _Ma-shong!_"

_Clunk._

She didn't like this. Not at all. "Sir?"

Men brushed by them with a speed born of panic. Milling around, grabbing crates and loading wagons. "We got our coin. We go. Nice and easy. _Away_ from that - "

_Clunk. Whoosh!_

And something exploded out from the center of the ring, _through_ the two men who hadn't already jumped away from the low platform in fear. Zoë knocked the Captain to the ground, feeling the air move inches over her head.

Horses screamed. Men too – and the sound of pounding feet and hooves kicked dust into their faces. She let herself look up – to see Horowitz and his people making tracks due east with no care for the two dead.

The captain grunted, finding room in his lungs for a bit of air. "Are they screamin' bout fairy rings?"

"Sir." It was a purer blue than any she'd seen except in the Core, and never found in water. But it had ripples and waves and glowed like the sun's reflection off a pond. They found their feet, far too close for comfort. "What do you think it -"

And then the first person burst from the liquid-like surface. And she was armed.

The captain sucked in a breath. "_Wuh de tyen, ah._"

They moved.

* * *

The sun on this planet was hot. When Sam glanced up, she was boggled by the sight of a gas giant looming in the sky, light blue and utterly massive. _We're on a moon. How did this – this isn't the Tok'ra alpha site!_ And she hadn't misdialed. The next time she saw that snake, she was going to –

Stone under her feet – not the sand she'd expected. No guards. _Where are we?_ The area all around the Stargate was flat, covered by short brown grass beyond the smooth rock platform circling the naquada ring. And her heart dropped into her shoes. _No DHD._ Maybe it was . . . she started to turn.

_Click._

You never forgot the sound of a pistol cocking. Especially when it was practically in your ear.

"Hands in the air, now," drawled a masculine voice. Beside her. "Nice'n easy, miss." She risked a glance. _Where did he come from?_ Reasonably tall, with brown hair in need of a combing, and blue eyes that gave nothing away. Not bad-looking, but with an intentness she'd seen in the mirror some days. _When I know I'm headed for a fight._ A grim-faced black woman stood at his side, shotgun trained and ready.

_Schloop._

Familiar gasp, from behind. "Sam!"

"Daniel -" she tried.

"Ah!" The gun didn't waver from her as the man shook his head. "Zoë?"

And the woman's shotgun was trained on the archaeologist. She was Sam's height, with thick, curly hair and no humor in brown eyes.

"Please." Daniel at his most persuasive was a force to be wary of. "We're peaceful explorers -"

The man and woman traded a look, one that said, _here we go again._ "Hush your fussin'," he interrupted, almost kindly. "More comin'?"

The wormhole disgorged Teal'c and Jack in quick order.

"Hands away from your weapons." Suddenly the man wasn't smiling anymore. His face had gone cold, the way the Colonel's did when facing the unknown. _He's sizing us up. _Blue eyes flicked over each of them, assessing. Measuring.

Aldwin was the last through. Sam squashed the cynical hope that he'd gotten lost in the wormhole. _The Tok'ra are our allies. Annoying, double-dealing, manipulative allies, but they're on our side. Most of the time._ That didn't mean she had to like him. And for _this_ stunt, they'd earned whatever they got, from the SGC and her father both.

The 'gate died, the hum of power fading into the dead quiet of the plain. _Five of us. Two of them._ The odds were good, if Daniel wasn't able to talk them down. But having that pistol unerringly aimed at her heart wasn't doing anything for her blood pressure.

The gun left her, pointed dead at Aldwin. The man took a few steps back, making sure he was clear to shoot if he had to.

The woman spoke up for the first time. "Sir?"

"Somethin' ain't right, Zoë."

Despite the situation, Sam had to bite back a snicker. _And he goes straight for the snake. Good instincts._

"Aside from Horowitz's fairy ring acting up in the middle of the drop?"

The man's head tilted consideringly. Zoë, on the other hand, kept her gun on Daniel without wavering.

"'Side from that. So." Blue eyes scanned them; settled on their linguist. "You wanna tell me what's going on?"

Daniel kept his hands out, open and friendly, ready to launch into his spiel. "I'm Daniel Jackson. We're peaceful explorers -"

"Mighty lot of guns you have, bein' so peaceful an' all."

"_Careful_ peaceful explorers," the Colonel put in dryly.

The man eyed the colonel carefully, and stiffened. Whatever he saw, he clearly didn't like.

"We're Tau'ri -"

"You're what?" the woman asked. Dark eyes kept scanning all of them, while the man was watching their surroundings. _They've been in situations like this before. _All the more dangerous for it. But it was up to Daniel, as it so often was. Sam had complete confidence in her teammate. He'd talked them out of much worse.

"We're human," the archaeologist clarified, a little taken aback.

The man spoke up again. His gun hadn't left Aldwin, but he kept himself a good distance from the Tok'ra, and the attention he spared from his surroundings went to the colonel and Teal'c. "Some reason you wouldn't be?"

She felt her jaw slip, a little, and closed it up. Most of the people they'd met on other worlds had been as human as they were. Not with the level of technology she could see in casual use here. _Their clothes look like they come from our time period in regard to textiles, though the cuts are different . . . but their weapons are much more modern._ Even so, they'd been mostly aware of other races – the Goa'uld, predominantly. Aside from that, there was something odd about them. She desperately wanted a closer look at their weapons, just as soon as Daniel convinced everyone not to kill each other.

The archaeologist hid his surprise admirably. Better than she had. "Um, no. We came through the Chappa'ai -"

"_Shuh muh?_"

Sam blinked. _What language was that?_

Daniel apparently knew it. "The Chappa'ai? The Stargate?" A thumb jerked back toward the naquada ring. "That?"

"We seen that," the man snorted. "Zoë. Alliance?"

Curls shook in the negative. "Don't look like it, sir."

Sam blinked as the word finally registered. _Sir?_

The man eyed them all, and then addressed the colonel. "Peaceful, huh?"

"Generally. Unless people start shooting at us," he added, tactful as ever. Warning, and wary.

It surprised Sam when the man nodded, stepped back, and slipped his gun away. Surprised the other woman, too. "Sir?"

"Show of good faith," the man smiled. There was nothing humorous in the expression. But the woman's gun lowered, and Sam dropped her hands. The peace was tenuous, but she'd fought her way out of much worse.

_If they're quick enough on the draw to be that confident . . ._ Daniel was more than able to handle this situation. At least it wasn't as bad as the one they'd just left. PX3-972 was not a planet she was eager to revisit anytime soon.

"Could you tell us where we are?" Daniel, stepping into the terse silence.

"Beylix," the woman answered. "Third moon off this gas giant."

Sam glanced up, and then let herself stare. "It's so big – do you know the orbital radius of this moon? I've never seen one this close; most moons associated with large gas giants are usually uninhabitable -"

"It is unusual," Teal'c noted calmly. Of all SG-1, he was by far the most traveled. "Yet I have seen such before, Major Carter."

The man snorted, clearly amused. "Where y'all from, then, that you ain't seen one a these so close?"

"Earth," Daniel supplied. "But we're not actually traveling from there. In fact, we weren't even supposed to end up here. Sam?"

"I haven't seen -"

"Earth," the man said flatly. "Zoë?"

"They're _fong luh._"

That strange language again. Familiar enough now that she listened. Oriental. Chinese, maybe? But she was more worried about the fact that there wasn't a DHD in sight.

The colonel stiffened, reading something in their posture. "Daniel?" he hissed. _And if the colonel's concerned, something's up._ Sam kept her own body relaxed, but was inwardly calculating the time she'd need to bring up her P-90. _Just in case._

But the archaeologist was puzzled, not worried, by whatever the man had called them. No danger, not yet. "_Fong luh?_" Lenses glinted in the doubled sunlight, turned her way. There was a small, vertical line carved between his eyebrows, betraying puzzlement. "They think we're crazy, Jack."

Sam blinked. _That's . . . new._ Well, outside the SGC. She wouldn't put any money on Ferretti's sanity, but –

"_Jen dao mei_," the man hissed, biting off each word as if it had committed some grievous sin. Backed away carefully, before turning and motioning the woman. "An' we've our fair share of that. Past time to be gone."

The colonel blinked. "Hey, wait just a second -"

"Yeah?"

Sam frowned. _What happened? They're more on edge now than they were when we arrived. _

"I just – it -"

Daniel jumped into the edgy silence. Soothing, non-threatening. "We're new here. We'd like to meet some other people from your planet. If you're going to a town or city, we'd like to join you."

There was a heavy, deliberate pause, far longer than it should have been. Sam kept her hands at her sides, no matter how much they wanted to creep toward her P-90. No one was aggressive here; in fact, just the opposite. These people seemed to want nothing more than to get as far away as fast as possible.

_Which makes me think we should be running too._

"Town's that way," the man pointed off to the right of the Stargate. The direction polar opposite to the one the two had been facing. "Don't have the exact coordinates, but it's 'bout three miles or so. Can't miss it."

_Coordinates? Miles? Since when have we _ever_ found a transplanted culture using the same unit designation for distance? Or for anything, for that matter? _

Subvocal, and barely heard, but Jolinar's influence had changed her enough that she could make out the woman's query. "Sir?"

"Horowitz's people can take care of themselves," the man muttered. "Time we were on our way."

"To where?" The colonel jumped in, hands resting easily on dangerous metal. He gave them a hard-edged smile, and Sam flanked him on one side. Teal'c came up on the other. _Sorry, Daniel,_ she registered the archaeologist's glare. But something here had her uneasy – mostly, the way these two were acting. _Defensive. Wary. Yet ready to take action if they have to._ Not so different from . . . well, from SG-1, under similar circumstances. "And why would you think we're crazy? Outside from the whole, appearing-through-a-fairy-ring bit."

The man snorted, fingers resting none-to-casually on his holstered weapon. The two were backing steadily away, but Sam could see the woman's knuckles pale where she gripped the shotgun. The answer she got made her stomach clench. "Earth-that-was got used up. No one's _from_ there anymore."

_

* * *

_

This is most unsettling.

Teal'c was not pleased.

"Earth-that-was?" Daniel Jackson queried, almost simultaneously with Major Carter's gasp of, "Used up?"

"Zoë?" The human glanced at his companion; a look that spoke volumes. _They have battled together many times,_ Teal'c noted. The woman's hand was on the weapon now, the two of them clearly facing the rest of SG-1.

"Well." Teeth flashed their way. "Love to say s'been a pleasure meetin' y'all, but what with you droppin' in so unexpected we're not real equipped to handle visitors. So if you turn yourselves thataway for three miles -" a finger twirled toward the gas giant rising at their backs, "You'll find a right pretty town, with food'n'ccommodations nice enough. We've work that wants doin', an' we best be on our merry."

O'Neill's face made it plain he would not accept such an answer. Teal'c tightened his fingers upon the staff weapon.

"Hold it."

"Jack -"

A raised hand cut the archaeologist off.

Teal'c's attention was trained on the woman. _This one is dangerous._ He approved of a worthy foe, but there was little call for battle as yet.

Daniel Jackson would not be deterred. Hands raised, the archaeologist stepped forward, between the weapons tightly held, though holstered, by each side. "I'm sorry," he said quickly. "This must be very strange to you – but we promise, all we want is information. What do you mean, Earth-that-was?"

"That's history," the man said curtly; frustration was in fingers steady on the holstered pistol. "We were too many for her anymore, so we left. Terraformed planets, five hundred years ago. Now here we are, one great big happy family of humans scattered across two dozen or so planets with our wonderful Alliance government in charge."

Teal'c raised a brow. _Irony._ It was impossible to interact with O'Neill for any stretch of time without becoming familiar with that particular Tau'ri idiosyncrasy.

A babble of voices broke out.

" – left Earth -"

"Five hundred years ago?" Daniel Jackson interrupted the colonel's wheeze.

Major Carter was more forthright. "Terraformed planets? How?"

"What year is it?"

The brow descended into a scowl as the Tok'ra stepped forward.

"Aldwin," O'Neill growled. "What exactly do you know about this?"

The Tok'ra took a step forward, head dropping. When it rose, the reverberant voice and glowing eyes visibly shocked the two Tau'ri. "Tell me," came the sybiote's grating vocals. "What year is it?"

"2517, Earth reckoning." The woman's dark eyes were dazed; but the muzzle of the shotgun was centered neatly on Aldwin's heart. "Don't move."

Something crackled. The man loosed a string of syllables that brought a flush to the archaeologist's face.

_'Zoe, Mal, you missed the check-in.'_

A black box rose to the man's lips; but his own pistol's aim was unerringly on O'Neill. _So. They divide their forces to the most prominent threats. But they could not hold long against us should we attack._ SG-1 dared not do so, however, with Daniel Jackson so prominently in the line of fire. As for Aldwin . . .

_It is becoming clear that our present predicament was not unexpected._ Were they on Chulak . . .

"Wash. Drop went down, but a little surprised dropped in."

_'Why am I not liking the sound of those words?'_

The man's voice was calm, but Teal'c watched his eyes, and they never stopped scanning. "Horowitz's fairy ring dropped a few strange folk on us. Give it five." _Before their reinforcements arrive._

"Aldwin?" O'Neill's hands were strangling the P-90 as if it were a symbiote's neck. "What exactly do you know about this?"

"That is classified, as you Tau'ri say," was the grating answer.

* * *

"Like my sky a little less empty, Wash." _Time to go._ "Wash!"

_"We're coming, we're coming . . ."_

"Fast would be better'n slow," Mal hissed into the radio. The five were arguing loudly among themselves, now – or at least their commander was arguing with the. . . the whatever-it-was, and the younger man piped up in outrage. The blonde was even snapping out every once in awhile too. _And all their attention's off us. _

Silver glinted under the sun.

_There she is._ No engine noise, not yet; but the big one was turning to look. _Jig's up._

"Sir?"

"Run!"

Sweeping low over the grass, _Serenity_ raced at them. _C'mon, Wash. C'mon. _Closer, closer . . . _Too close!_ Fingers that weren't gripping his pistol slammed on the radio. _"Wash!"_

She pulled up, dropping to the ground light as a feather.

_Bam._

A heavy feather.

Pressed to the hull, Mal looked back. _Damn, they run fast!_

"Closin' in, sir!"

"Kaylee, open 'er up! Zoë!" She was pressed to the starboard side, he was on port. "Shoot to deter. Fire!"

The strangers had hardware enough to blow holes right through them both and _Serenity_'s hull; he hadn't seen live weapons like that since the war. _Even nasty folk such as we deal with don't carry that much of a punch!_

Bullets clawed the ground; the five stopped advancing, dropping as one to the dirt. _Damn, they're good._ Bodies inched forward. _And they know we don't want to kill 'em. Gorramit! _

The noise of moving parts hit him; the extenders were coming out now.

"Sir! You see that!"

He yelled over the noise of return fire. "See what?"

And then he saw it. Distant, but getting closer; a dust cloud forming a trail that was headed their way. "Horowitz got to the Feds already?"

Through a lull Zoë called back. "He ran fast, sir!"

"For a fat man," Mal muttered. Sweat beaded on his neck, cloth sticking to his back.

_Fwoosh!_

"What the hell was that!"

A ball of fire _splatted_ into the dirt, exploding violently. Mal flinched away – and away from the ship. _Smart._

The ramp hit ground, and Mal moved. _Roll, dive – _something grazed by far too close for any sort of comfort, leaving a burning line stinging across his side. "Zoë!"

"Sir."

Cold, controlled, _take-the-hit_ voice. _No._ "Zoë." Swallowed. "Well, ain't this a familiar picture." _My crew. Hostage._

Hands up, weapon empty, and two of those guns that could put holes in a body faster than blinking trained on her; it was the commander and the blonde. The big black guy's fire-spitting staff was aimed at them. The kid in the glasses stepped forward, hands up. "We just want to talk -"

"You got guns on my first," Mal snapped, in no mood for games. "Where does talkin' come inta that?"

"You fired at us!" The boy even managed to sound indignant.

Mal was close to the control panel, but not close enough to get Zoë free of them. "We fired to keep you back. I don't miss what I aim at, and I was aimin' at the ground. We want no part of you and your trouble. I sure as shootin' don't want whatever the hell _that_ is on my ship." He lifted a hand, pointing at the one of them that didn't belong. _Dressed like it's trying to blend into a desert._

"I assure you," the thing playing at being a man said. "I mean you no harm."

Mal snorted. "_Ni de ma de. Tian Xia soy ya duh ren doh goy swa!"_ The boy flinched; the rest just looked blank. _Where the _tyen shiao duh_ are they from?_ "You see that dust cloud? That there's the law, with more guns'n all of us put together. They get hold of us on the ground, there ain't gonna be nothin' peaceful about it."

"Then what would you suggest?" The commander was scowling worse than clouds about to thunder, but Mal had seen worse in the mirror.

"I suggest you let her go, and then you get the hell off my ship."

"Captain!"

Too much to hope that they'd be able to keep the others out for any longer. It was a miracle they'd been out this long. "Stay back, Kaylee."

Sandals froze on metal grates. The little mechanic sucked in a breath. "Zoë!"

The strangers were staring.

"Kaylee." Mal kept his hands in the air, and put no give in his voice. He didn't have to see her to know she'd frozen in the hatchway leading out to the common space. _And the engine room._ "I want you to go up to the cockpit and keep Wash in there, you understand? Last thing I need is him out here causin' a ruckus."

"'Kay, Cap'n."

"Kaylee. If you see Jayne, send him down here. And shut the hatch behind you."

Sliding metal accompanied the nod he couldn't see, but knew was there. _Good girl._

And suddenly, for no reason he could tell, the weapons were going down.

Zoë was at his side in two steps. Mal was just an arm's reach from the panel. _If I could just – _"Well, if we're all done shootin' at each other?"

"You have kids on this thing," the commander was giving his _Serenity_ the eye. Mal forced teeth to unclench and listened. "We don't shoot children."

_Well, yippe ki-yay._ "Obliged."

"Sir," Zoë was staring at the approaching dustcloud; Mal could make out hats, the sun flashing off hooves and steel.

"Much as I'd love to stay here and chat, we've got places we need to be goin'," Mal said bluntly. "We're in no state to take on passengers, so I'm afraid y'all better get on back where you came from." _However you plan on doin' that._

"I must advise against it at the moment," the creepy not-man's voice was oily, with a low grating to it that hinted at flashing eyes. "There was no DHD at the Stargate, and we must avoid -"

"Attracting attention?" snapped the commander, freezing hell over with a glare.

"We'd have to dial out manually," muttered the blonde.

"It'll take time, Sam. Time we won't have if -"

"- we've got angry locals on our hands. SNAFU."

"They do appear perturbed."

And while the five were staring back, taking their own sweet time deciding what to do about the quick-riding feds, Mal was at the panel. One fist slammed a glowing light – and easy as lying, _Serenity_'s outer hatch started to rise and the inner doors slammed shut.

The newcomers had no sooner realized what was happening, when they were nicely caught.

_And the cavalry's here. Howorwitz's cavalry. _Mal pounded a glowing blue light. "Wash, we're on. Go."

**

* * *

**

**A/N: **Translations from the Firefly-wiki site. All are phonetic and I don't speak Mandarin, in case you really couldn't tell.

_Tsao duh_ - We're humped.

_Niou-se_ - cow poop.

_Ma-shong_ - now

_Wuh de tyen, ah_ - Dear God in heaven.

_Shuh muh?_ - I'm sorry?

_Fong luh_ - loopy in the head.

_Jen dao mei_ - just our luck.

_Ni de ma de. Tian Xia soy ya duh ren doh goy swa!_ – Yo Mama! Everyone under the sky should die!

_Tyen shiao duh_ – name of all that's sacred


	2. Chapter 2

"How's it coming, Carter?" Jack's stalking across the small area was beginning to grind his nerves. _Un, duo, tres, quattor, quinque_ – Daniel glanced at Teal'c; imperturbable, the big man raised an eyebrow.

Sam didn't even look up, concentrated on the control box disgorging tangled wires. Nimble fingers sifted through red, blue, and green, poking and searching. "Almost there, sir."

"So." Daniel fixed both eyes on Aldwin, cramming his irritation down deep and keeping it there. "You were working on a time-traveling experiment."

"We have been researching the possibility ever since the SGC recounted the incident which sent SG-1 back to 1969, Earth time," the spy nodded. Desert-hued clothing stood out brightly against dark steel; the Tok'ra didn't look in the least discomfited. "Our goal was to duplicate the effect on a larger scale."

"And we were the lab rats?" Jack was cradling his P-90, the expression on his face giving away how much consideration he was giving to using it.

"Jack." _They're our allies._

"Daniel." Brown eyes rolled eloquently.

_I know. _The archeologist rubbed tired eyes. For allies with a full disclosure treaty, the Tok'ra were – well, typical Goa'uld. _Pushy, and parasitic._ And in violation of that treaty more often than not, with their demands and attitudes keeping the SGC out of the loop and on unequal footing.

"The wormhole was routed through a solar flare, diverting the slipstream through time, but not space," Sam pointed out. Something _crack_ed; she yelped.

"Sam?"

"It's nothing," she blew on stinging fingers; Daniel winced. "A minor short. It's okay."

"And you did not notify the SGC of this experiment." Teal'c was sitting on a stack of empty crates, staff weapon upright between his knees.

"The Council deemed that -"

"That we would say not just _no_ but _hell no_ to participating, so you didn't even bother to ask, did you?" Jack snapped.

"Can you deny that you would have resisted, despite the terms of our treaty?"

_Gods, here we go again._ "The Earth-Tok'ra Alliance does not state that we must always assist you when requested," Daniel pointed out before Jack could lose his temper. "Only that we consider any appeals for aid."

Dark hair shook; but Aldwin's face was diplomatically blank. "The Council -"

"The High Council got us shoved five hundred years into the future," Jack loomed over the Tok'ra, knuckles gleaming white around the P-90's black metal. "So tell me, Aldwin, how are we gonna get back?"

Pale fingers delved into Tok'ra desert-wear, and produced a small, silvery box. "This is the second device. It is calibrated to the first, only intended to return us to the gate when and where we left from."

"That might not have been the greatest idea, considering that P3X-972 is crawling with Jaffa," Jack sniped.

_What? _"Wait," Daniel had hit on a bigger question. "How do you know this is going to work? So far, we haven't been able to figure out exactly how the Stargate network 'knows' which gate is being connected to when we dial an address."

"Our scientists have discovered -"

_And there's the problem right there. Gotcha._ "You mean the Tok'ra have been withholding information again," Daniel cut in, raking fingers through short strands.

"Full disclosure is not a proxy of the Earth-Tok'ra Alliance." Aldwin's face was unconcerned, and Daniel felt the beginnings of true anger stirring beneath his own annoyance.

A deep baritone interrupted smoothly. "It is when the information pertains to the distribution of SGC resources, including off-world teams. By failing to inform us of your intentions and the information you possess, you are indeed in violation of the treaty."

Blue eyes sank closed in momentary relief. _Thank you, Teal'c._

"Hah!" Jack crowed. "Bet that thing doesn't work anyway. Carter, you think you can take a look?"

Sam's blonde head was bent over the console, which was starting to look less and less salvageable. "Soon as I – ah!"

Daniel perked up. That was a good noise, one of Sam's _moment-of-triumph_ sounds. "Sam?"

She flashed them a white smile and sparked two wires against each other. The doors locking them in abruptly slid open, revealing a darkened space that looked like nothing so much as storage. "Got it."

* * *

"Wait, what? You _brought them with us?_" Finally out of Atmo, Wash could leave the controls long enough to glare at the Captain.

Who didn't pay him much mind. Mal was staring at stars that faded into sight as they crossed from air to space. "Seemed like the thing to do."

_He's insane. _"Oh, no no no no no – the thing to do would be to leave them on the _planet_, Mal!"

"That wasn't really an option at this juncture, Wash."

"Right. And now we have five gun-toting psychos locked in our – what is it again? It's not a hold, because we don't have one of those. And we don't have a brig either!"

"And they're not locked up anymore," came an unfamiliar voice. A _cheerful_, unfamiliar voice.

"Oh, motherless son of a -" Wash turned, and shut up, hands bolting up, away from the controls. "And again with the guns!"

"Sir." The blonde woman was staring at the controls, looking . . . _fascinated?_

"Sit, Carter," the man had both hands on his gun, staring Mal down. _He's laughing._ Even though there was no expression on the stranger's face._ Ohh, this never turns out good._ "Stay."

The man with the glasses rolled his eyes.

Wash waited until the leader's gaze was on Mal, and hit the intercom to the Infirmary.

Not a minute too soon; sharp blue eyes behind round lenses zeroed in on him. "You're the pilot?"

He tried on a weak grin for size, but Mal jumped in first. "I'm the Captain. Malcolm Renolds. You want anything with my crew, you talk to me first."

_He's psychotic._

"Though you might want to be thinkin' about puttin' your hardware down. Anyone gets excited, we're all lookin' at hard vacuum."

_Oh, God. Mal's right. Those are no Alliance stun-blasters. _"And that's not really on the top of my list of things to do today," Wash babbled, eyes widening at the _size_ of the man who was looming in the cockpit's hatch. And the weird thing he was holding that had to be a weapon. Or something. "So why don't we all just. . . sit. And talk. All seven of us. Here. In the cockpit." _C'mon, Zoë, sweetheart, I know you can hear me._

"Move away from the controls," the leader told him, brown eyes glinting suspicion. Wash swallowed. _If they figure out what I did, _tsao duh.

"What? I'm the pilot, I sit here, and do the flying -" The gun came up, dissolving the words left on his tongue. "Okay, okay! Moving!"

Scrambling from his chair, Wash found himself standing next to Mal, who was scorching a glare across the entire cockpit. Mostly at the one intruder who didn't really fit – his clothes were desert-dirt, not green and with the air of organization and regulation behind them that the others had. _So, what is he that _-

"We must return to the planet."

_Huh. _Wash blinked. _Not so much with the politeness, then._ Of course, the guns had been his first clue.

"Sir, I recognize most of these controls," the blonde woman frowned. "This is – this is all Earth technology."

"Well, it _is_ five hundred years into the future."

_What?!_

Mal just rolled his eyes.

_Click._

Wash grinned. _Zoë, babe, I love –_ "_Niou-se!_"

From behind Vera, Jayne smirked.

_

* * *

_

/Dr. Jackson's skills of negotiation certainly are impressive, for a Tau'ri./

Aldwin gave a mental shrug at Wotan's observation. _/He claims not to be a diplomat/_ he answered his symbiote. _/But he convinced the High Council to enter into a treaty with Earth, on his terms./_

Astonishing, really. _Not that it will last._ Such treaties never did.

The weapons had finally been lowered – now the only source of friction between the humans was when, exactly, the crew of the ship would be returning them to the planet's surface.

"I still don't see why we can't set down as soon as they clear out." O'Neill again, with a petulance to his tone that had always thoroughly annoyed Wotan. A dislike matched only by O'Neill's distaste for the Goa'uld that, in the manner of the blindly prejudiced, bled over onto the Tok'ra.

_/He is impossible/_ Wotan muttered.

Aldwin shrugged. _/The Tau'ri have always been difficult. Ra was only the first to discover so./_

"An' I'm tellin' you," the spaceship's Captain countered, with a look hard enough to melt stone, "that we're not setting down until full dark. Too easy for us to be identified if we don't wait."

"And why, exactly, would that be a problem?"

"As you may have noticed, the law don't take too kindly to those as want no part of it." Reynolds was glaring back viciously.

_/You may have to step in soon/_ Wotan observed. Diplomacy was perhaps not their strongest suit, but all Tok'ra could recognize a potentially volatile situation. O'Neill had waited until Dr. Jackson had been engaged in conversation with the lethal, dark-skinned woman who had eased all of SG-1, minus the Colonel, into one of the common areas. The Jaffa and overly tall human male had been eyeing one another distrustfully.

_/Because you persist in refusing to speak with the Tau'ri?/_ Even as he teased his symbiote, Aldwin could understand how Wotan felt. It was difficult not to, when every contact with the Tau'ri – those who were slaves to and hosts of the Goa'uld, dripped in _their_ revulsion for the Tok'ra. _Hypocritical. They, who are just as much a tool of the System Lords as the Jaffa, revile _us_. We have been fighting the Goa'uld for two thousand years! While they were _safe_, protected on their lost planet._

And no matter how they tried, the Tau'ri couldn't hide the distrust in the eyes of their soldiers, their instinctive flinch at the interaction between host and symbiote.

_/I have no desire to come into contact with those who hate me without knowing me./_

"Of course," Aldwin cut in, drawing two hostile stares. "We will naturally abide by your orders on your ship, Captain."

"I thought we needed to return to the planet," O'Neill frowned.

_/Aggravating child./_

"We do," Aldwin ignored his symbiote. "We must return through the same Stargate we entered this system by. _When_ makes little difference, as the device is set to return us moments after we initially left. No time will effectively have passed on that end of the timestream."

"Huh. Ain't that somethin'." The Captain's blue eyes were openly suspicious of him as they were not of O'Neill.

Anger spurted, hot and fierce. _Does this whole species judge so easily?!_

"Good," O'Neill interrupted. "We're going to go find the rest of our team." A smirk shot Reynolds' way. "Nice talkin' to ya."

An arm swept elaborately toward the hatch. Pushing his anger away with the practice of centuries, Aldwin stepped through first.

And came face-to-face with long, dark hair surrounding the pale countenance of a young human girl. Clear blue eyes, not the least bit clouded by the insanity in them. "You're snakes inside," the girl gravely informed him. "Snakes without scales."

* * *

"You're familiar with American history on Earth-That-Was?" Simon didn't even look up from his equipment. _Cerebral cortex is undamaged. Hippocampus . . . proximity to River's amygdala means it carries scars from small lacerations. The question is, do those lacerations scratch deeper than the surface?_ "The war between the Alliance and the Independents is equivalent to the Civil War – the Alliance was the North, and the Independents were the South."

_Need to do several memory tests to find out._ Simon blinked his way back into the conversation on hearing the grimness in Book's voice.

"Only played out on a canvas of dozens of planets, with millions of dead. Whole planets were destroyed. But the Alliance won."

"Which is why Mr. Reynolds has such a . . . dislike of authority figures?"

Simon pulled his eyes away from the neuroscan of his sister's brain. _I guess you could say that._

Shepard Book's smile was characteristically understated. "You picked up on that."

"I'm an anthropologist." The man behind the glasses shrugged, almost apologetic.

"A student of human behavior." The lilt to Book's voice was not quite a question. "So what are you doing with people who are so obviously military?"

The man – Daniel – smiled. "Because of the Stargate, of course."

"The Star-gate?"

_Huh._

They'd had more than one clue that whoever Shepard Book really was, he was connected in a major way with the Alliance. It was there, too, in the slight affectation in his voice as he tried to pretend he'd never heard the word before. If the man wasn't so dedicated to the good of the 'verse, hadn't given up a chance for safety to save River when the lawman and Reavers had come after them in those first tumultuous days on _Serenity_ . . . Simon would be afraid.

_Well. More afraid._

It was the only thing that really scared him. _Reavers can only torture you, then make sure you die._ But the Alliance . . . they would make sure you _lived._

"- came through, back on the planet." A frown curled over Dr. Jackson's face. "What I don't understand is why there the 'feds' were chasing you."

"Ah." Long fingers pressed together at the tips; Simon watched Shepard Book's face morph into a gentle smile. "What you must understand is that we're not among the Core planets, out here in the Black. Rules can be . . . a mite fuzzier."

_Nice way of saying we're criminals._

"Core planets?"

_No eye contact. Immediate change of subject. _Simon would give credit where it was due – this man was no idiot. _He suspects._

Shifting into the common space, Book continued his explanation of the 'verse, Core and outer planets, taking Dr. Jackson with him. In the corner of his eye, Simon could see Zoë and Wash huddled together at the base of the stairs outside the Infirmary.

Guarding. Of course.

The Captain and the leader of SG-1 were missing, as was Jayne and the large man – _What did Dr. Jackson say his name was? Teal'c?_ Something like that. Major Carter and Kaylee had retreated to the engine room after ten minutes of fierce discussion involving Beylix, the Stargate, and the Feds.

_At least they're no threat to us._

Outside the guns and River's definite aversion to the one who looked like he lived in the wilds of Higgins Moon. _Need to thank Inara for offering to look after her._ The absolute last thing he wanted was River being upset by these people.

They weren't Alliance.

But they weren't crew either. _If the Captain doesn't trust them, I definitely won't._

"Hey, doc?" Mal, with a bloodstained shirt and a wry grin that said _just-a-graze_.

An archaic phrase of his Mother's floated to mind. _Speak of the devil._

"You're lucky," was his pronouncement after the Captain hopped up on the chair, shifting bloodied cotton out of the way. "Not a bullet – just a rock shard." Pincers eased past a flap of skin, wiggled the sharp sliver free. "Barely hit the muscle. Even though it carved a four-inch long hole in your side."

Seven small sutures later, River's usual flowing walk had his sister drifting past the Infirmary door, lingering as if she'd been caught in an eddy. _What's she saying? Something about_ –

"Cut the head off," she was frowning, as if desperately trying to figure something out, and something twisted, deep in Simon's gut. _I've never seen her look like that._ Even with whatever the Alliance had done to her . . . River never had to _try_ to understand. "But there's always more, and they crawl inside."

–_ snakes?_

_

* * *

_

Seventeen . . . eighteen . . . nineteen . . . twenty.

With a grunt more show than strain, Jayne eased the bar back onto the stand, flexing once more for good measure. _Heh. _Slid down and sat up on well-used plasti-form, throwing a casually challenging glance at the well-muscled stranger two steps from the weight bench. "Usually warm-up with one-fifty," he tossed out. _And up to two-seventy-five now. _

"Indeed."

Jayne scowled. _Just what's that supposed t'mean?_ "Wanna give 'er a try?"

The bald head tilted, one eyebrow rising and face blanker'n a board. He'd have written the man off as a mute, except for that one word, if his Momma hadn't taught him to be nice to those with thinkin' difficulties. _Ain't their fault, Jayne,_ he remembered her saying, after she'd given his ear a hefty swat for making fun of the halfwit who lived on the other end of town.

The man settled himself on the bench, sliding under the bar and Jayne moved to spot him. Light glinted off the metal symbol carved into dark skin. _That looks like –_

"Gold?"

_Down, up. One._ Only on the second rep, the man didn't pause. "Yes."

Looked like twenty-four carat. _Pricey._ "Howdja get it all . . . in ya, like that?"

"It is the mark of the First Prime of the false god Apophis." Jayne started to glare. On the tenth rep, and he wasn't even sweating. _Two-seventy-five. Gotta be feelin' it. _Oblivious, the man continued. "Upon being elevated to the position of First Prime, the tattoo borne by a Jaffa is carved away, and molten gold is poured into the incisions."

_Ow._ Jayne gulped. "Oh."

Twenty reps, and the bar _clang_ed back into the stand. _Yeah, but. Gold._

Serious about his workout, Jayne huffed each breath carefully. _In, nose. Out, mouth._ Slid back under the bar, bracing feet and palms and gripping tight. Then lost himself in the battle of muscle versus gravity, counting breaths and counting reps.

_. . . nineteen . . . twenty._

_Clang!_

Cloth met seeking fingers, and Jayne wiped his face with a happy grunt. _Good, hard-workin' sweat. Second best kind._ Flipping the rag over one shoulder, he grinned cockily at Teal'c. _Heh. Betcha couldn't -_

"Impressive. For a Tau'ri."

His good mood vanished like platinum in a whorehouse.

_Nobody but nobody calls me names an' gets away with it!_ The knife slipped, oil-easy, from the sheath at his back. "I don't know who you think you're crackin' wise at," he growled, low and dangerous, "in that weird accent o'yours, but let's get one thing straight. I'm Jayne Cobb, an' no man calls me tarry'n lives to tell it!"

* * *

"Ah, crap! Teal'c!"

Teal'c and the ship's hired muscle were circling one another in the cargo hold. On the catwalk above, the rest of SG-1 and most of the crew had gathered. _At least he won't arm the staff weapon._ Blowing a hole in the side of this rattletrap would send all of them to get a closer look at the stars than they wanted.

"I must defend myself, O'Neill."

An incredulous voice called from the lower hatch. "Jayne! What's goin' on!" _Reynolds._

"He insulted me, Mal!" The big man never lowered the knife, and looked ready to rush Teal'c.

"Did he, now?"

_He thinks this is funny?_

"Can't let nobody cast ass-piration on my good name, Mal." The two continued to circle.

"_What_ good name?"

"The name o' Jayne Cobb," the merc retorted.

Jack groaned.

Exasperation lashed the air. "Well, Jayne, I'm sure he didn't mean it."

"Don't matter!"

Jack glanced down; saw Reynolds trying to press a headache out of his forehead with one hand. Blue slipped shut in frustration. "Well if'n you ask him to 'pologize, maybe the two of you can avoid killin' each other."

"Yeah," Cobb grunted, eyes lighting up. "Yeah." He brandished the knife in Teal'c's direction. "Apologize, an' I won't kill ya yet."

Teal'c stiffened.

The glare Reynolds sent his way was pointed. _Half this fight is your man,_ the expression said.

_Why me?_ "Teal'c," Jack barked. Took a breath. "Apologize."

Slowly, the Jaffa stepped away and planted the staff weapon vertically. "I did not intend to insult you."

"Say you're sorry," Cobb snapped, taking a step closer.

Teal'c's eyes turned his way; Jack waved. _Go on, do it._

"I am . . . sorry," the Jaffa said stiffly.

"Good," Cobb sniffed. Honed steel disappeared; trained as he was, Jack didn't see where. _Not too smart, maybe, but he knows his weapons._

"Where is Daniel when you need him?" Jack grumbled.

"He's in the Infirmary with Simon and River," Carter offered. She'd been tense beside him during the entire situation, knowing that there would be little they could do, outnumbered and, more importantly, against a crew made largely up of non-combatants.

_Only three more hours._ Jack grabbed his sanity with both hands and gripped hard. _Then we'll be back in our own time._ As long as he didn't have to break up another fight between Teal'c and the hired muscle, the rest of their time in orbit would be smooth. More or less. "What kind of name is Jayne, anyway?"

"_My_ name," the mercenary rumbled.

"His momma thought he was gonna be a girl." The little mechanic, Kaylee, all bright smiles and bouncy laughter. "Had the name all picked out an' everythin'."

"Just imagine her surprise when she gets ten pounds nine ounces of screaming baby boy instead," Wash grinned. "Wouldn't change his name, either. Dead set on a baby named Jane. Or, in this case, Jayne." A kiss slipped between the pilot and _Serenity_'s second-in-command before the former took off for the helm. Cold brown eyes turned their way when he tried to follow.

_Reynolds is in charge. She's 2IC._ But the rest of it he couldn't quite figure out; no real pecking order he could see, though militarily the mercenary was a threat.

Rerouted to the lower decks, a sudden thought came to mind. "Didn't see a DHD back on the planet, Carter."

"I've been looking at the propulsion system on _Serenity,_ Colonel." Excitement was good. Excitement meant she had an idea. "I think there might be a way to rig the engine to power the Stargate, and we could dial out manually."

"Good." Jack smiled. _At least Aldwin's mess hasn't got us completely FUBAR._

Carter was quiet for a minute, following him through the hatch into the common space; Aldwin was stiffly perched on one of the lumpy couches.

Jack's smile dropped off his face at her silence. _Uh-oh._

"That's if we can get Captain Reynolds to agree to let us use his ship."

_We're gonna need more than Daniel's persuasion here. _Blunt force he could do. Heck, blunt force he was _good_ at. "Well then." Jack peered past clear glass into the Infirmary, seeing Daniel and Simon speaking quietly with the teenage girl. _What's her name? Stream? Creek?_ Here, the stairs to the helm were unblocked; he could make it to Reynolds easily enough. The Colonel grinned. "You keep working with their mechanic. I'll take care of it."

* * *

"No Gustlers on my girl," Kaylee huffed, proud. _A Gustler? On _Serenity The thought made her shiver. _Purplebelly junk._

The blonde woman's face furrowed. "Wait – then how do you -"

"Filter the energy through a catalyzer. Keeps the main artery function clear, without strainin' the primary switchback valves. And the coolant works just fine without one o'them gummin' up the works." Kaylee grinned. "_Dong ma?_"

Boots _clang_ed against metal as she circled aft. "I think if we can reroute the main power feed into the Stargate _here_ -"

Kaylee looked, then shifted past the port jack control to the rear of the engine room. "Bypassing the hydraulics? Could work. If'n that ring can hook up on its end -"

"That'll be my job." Sam brushed back yellow strands with a sigh. "But it'll take, as long as I close the circuit connection between _Serenity_ and the Stargate. And if the engine has enough power for the wormhole to form."

The whole room shuddered softly.

Sam jerked. "What was that?"

"Nothin'," Kaylee grinned. "Just Wash settin' us down."

"We're on-planet?" Stunned shock flitted over the woman's face. "But – I hardly felt a thing."

"That's Wash," she agreed, reaching for her ratchet. "He's best there is."

More booted feet, heavier on metal grating than any of the crew. "You really think this'll work?"

"'Course," Kaylee smiled brightly at the Colonel. _Just like the Cap'n, all gruffness on the outside and smushy on the inside._ Checked the wires spilling out of _Serenity_'s port jet control. _S'prolly why they don't seem to get along too well._

"Yes, sir." Sam knew a lot about the whys and wherefores of things; Kaylee reckoned she was like Simon, real educated. Still, she didn't like strangers poking around in her girl's beating heart.

The Colonel was fiddling with the 5/8ths wrench.

_Oh, I don't think so._ "A-hem," Kaylee crossed her arms, one foot tapping. The Colonel got it when she stared pointedly at her wrench. And then dogged his steps out of the engine room, Sam scooting ahead of him to see to their ring. She'd heard him muttering something about a 'rattletrap' earlier. _Better not talk about my girl that way!_

She set to work; after an hour or so, she had Jayne, Book and Simon helping her on the inside, and Mal, Zoë and Wash helping outside. All in all, disconnecting the main power feed took only an hour, and parsing down the cables and extending them out to the ring wasn't too hard.

_Huh. That was easier than I thought it would be._

It was only when they got outside that she could see what the Major had been up to. Or couldn't see, as the case was. "Oops."

"Yeah," Wash added, from where he was propped against _Serenity._ His torch gave off a circle of light six feet around, giving Sam enough to see by where she was crouched in the lee of the boarding ramp. "Guess we forgot that the lights would go out if we cut the power."

"Lights are still on inside," Kaylee smiled at the Cap'n, who was lighting another torch. "Auxiliary power's up'n' keepin' everything shipshape."

"Infirmary?" Zoë asked.

"It's got power," Simon confirmed. "In case anyone manages to electrocute themselves."

Jayne glared. He'd shocked himself, touching an exposed wire, and yelped like a baby at the tiny burn.

Kaylee giggled.

"Carter?"

"Almost there, sir." There was a deep _hmmmm_ as power connected; Sam nodded. "We're ready, Colonel."

"Dial up," the Colonel ordered; and all the strangers braced themselves, reaching out to another ring inside the outer one, and it started to move! _Seems to take awhile,_ Kaylee noted. Seven times they waited for the ring to _clunk_ into place, lighting up at the top, before –

_Whoooooosh!_

"_Ay ya, wo ma molei_!"

"_Wuh de tyen, ah!_"

"_Tyen shiao duh_ -"

"Wow! It's so pretty!" _Blue, with little ripples like a lake –_ only it gave off its own light, in a way Hadler's Pond back home never had.

"Thanks for everything, but we've gotta be going," the Colonel announced to them all. On the side, Kaylee saw Simon talking to Daniel, who gave River a smile too before exchanging a few words with Zoë.

The one who'd kept to himself the entire time went through first. Ripples spread out from the point where he'd jumped into the pool with a _schlooop._ _Oooh._ "That's real pretty," Kaylee sighed.

One by one, the rest disappeared, Sam and Daniel with a smile and a wave.

Kaylee waited a few seconds before disconnecting the main power feed.

Cap'n sighed, relieved. "An' that's that."

"At least they're gone," Zoë muttered.

Hands nimble on thick cables, Kaylee's forehead scrunched. "I like meetin' new people."

"And if we're very lucky, we won't meet them again." Wash headed back to _Serenity_, white around the eyes from the overwhelming _whoosh!_ that had erupted from the ring.

"I don't know," she mused. Calloused fingers hesitated over untangling the rigged power-transfer and fully disengaging _Serenity_ from the – the Stargate. "Might be nice."

Cap'n's smile was the gentle one they so rarely saw; the one that made her grin back. "I won't say it can't happen, but best not work too hard on that hope, _mei mei_. Let's get flyin'."

_**Fin**_

**

* * *

**

**A/N: **Notes and translations.

_Tsao duh_ - We're humped.

_Niou-se_ - cow poop.

_Wo ma molei_ – mother of god

_Wuh de tyen, ah_ - Dear God in heaven.

_Tyen shiao duh_ – name of all that's sacred

_Mei mei_ – little sister

'Signs And Warnings' follows this fic.


End file.
